I Have Children From a Previous Marriage. How Does That Affect My Estate Planning?

When a person with children remarries after divorce or death of a spouse, estate planning needs to take into account both the new (second) spouse, as well as the children from the previous marriage. In most cases, a trust will be used as part of the estate plan, either in form of a living trust or as a testamentary trust. The trust provisions will specify how and when the trust assets will be disbursed to both the spouse and children from the prior marriage after the grantor’s death. In either case, the trust will be irrevocable on the grantor’s death, so the terms established by the grantor will govern distributions from the trust as long as it continues to exist.